An Introduction To The UCLA Football Recruits of 2016: Wide Receivers
Sep 13, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; UCLA Bruins wide receiver Jordan Payton (9) runs with the ball against the Texas Longhorns during the first quarter at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Coming off the 2015 recruiting cycle in which UCLA only signed one wide receiver (4-star Cordell Broadus), the Bruins are in need of a talent infusion at the position in the 2016 class. As luck would have it though, UCLA’s highest-priority offensive position of need in the 2016 class happens to be the one at which the talent pool in California is more stocked than ever. 24/7 Sports’s Composite Rating Index has assigned 4-star ratings or higher to an incredible 14 recruits in the state of California’s class of 2016 who could project as wide receivers at the next level, and UCLA is poised to grab its share of those recruits.
UCLA’s wide receiver recruiting can be broken down into two sub-categories: slot receivers and traditional wide receivers. In this piece, we will be focusing on the traditional wide receivers.
UCLA Bruins
4-star Michael Pittman (Westlake Village, CA/Oaks Christan)
The uncommitted offerees (per Bruin Sports Report):
4-star Tyler Vaughns (La Puente, CA/Bishop Amat)
4-star Mykel Jones (Patterson, LA/Patterson)
4-star Dylan Crawford (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA/Santa Margarita Catholic)
4-star Javon McKinley (Corona, CA/Centennial)
4-star Clyde Leflore-Chriss (New Orleans, LA/Warren Easton Senior)
4-star Trevon Sidney (La Puente, CA/Bishop Amat)
4-star Darian Owens (Fresno, CA/Clovis West)
4-star Devin Duvernay (Sachse, TX/Sachse)
4-star Steffon McKnight (San Diego, CA/Mira Mesa)
4-star N’Keal Harry (Chandler, AZ/Chandler)
4-star Dymond Lee (West Hills, CA/Chaminade)
Unrated Velus Jones (Saraland, AL/Saraland)
The current realistic targets:
The Big Picture:
We at Go Joe Bruin strive to be totally forthright and straight-forward with our readers about the ins-and-outs of UCLA athletics (without being belligerent or relentlessly negative for the sake of being so). We call it like we see it. That’s a necessary disclaimer to include in this piece because the reality of UCLA’s 2016 wide receiver recruiting is this: it is almost impossible to discuss without talking about rival USC‘s as well, because the fortunes of the Bruins with their wide receiver recruits will be, to a large extent, intertwined with and shaped by the way USC proceeds as the recruiting cycle unfolds.
Why? Because this crop of local wide receiver recruits happens to include quite a few who fall into the dreaded category of lifelong Trojan fans — with diehard USC-supporting parents who seem to think it’s still 2005 and Pete Carroll is still roaming Heritage Hall — and will be almost impossible to pry from the clutches of Steve Sarkisian and co. unless the Trojans choose to release them.
It is very much a case in which USC could cherry-pick the local kids it wants at the position and leave other schools to fight it out for whoever in Southern California wasn’t anointed by the Trojans. Interestingly though, USC seems to currently be prioritizing a host of out-of-state wide receiver recruits right now, like Freddie Swain (Citra, FL/North Marion) and Mykel Jones (Patterson, LA/Patterson), which would likely limit the amount of local wide receivers it could take should the Trojans ultimately land the commitments of those players.
Swain and Jones in particular are elite prospects who would almost assuredly be impactful players for the Trojans should they choose to traverse the country for college, but with USC certain to land a stellar group of wide receivers in 2016 no matter what, UCLA would likely be better off if USC could land those national wide receivers and leave UCLA to pick up the pieces with blue-chip local players like Javon McKinley and Dylan Crawford who would probably not be in play for the Bruins otherwise.
Regardless, the positive news is that even the second tier of wide receiver recruits in 2016 is chock-full of blue-chip prospects in its own right and probably more loaded than the first tier would normally be in most years, so UCLA would still be landing outstanding prospects who would improve the team considerably.
The Recruits
UCLA was very fortunate to land athlete Michael Pittman (Westlake Village, CA/Oaks Christian) in the nascent stages of the 2016 recruiting cycle. In fact, Pittman, the son of the former Super Bowl-winning running back with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers turned bodybuilder of the same name, was the first 2016 recruit to commit to the Bruins, way back on October 4, 2014.
Pittman, already 6’5″ and 210 lbs with plenty of room to still grow, is a physical freak with incredible bloodlines who is just as likely to become the next Matt Ware or even Anthony Barr as he is the next Joseph Fauria. Much like the way we described Jack Jones (Long Beach, CA/Poly) in the slot receiver introduction, Pittman is one of those prospects from whom UCLA would just be happy to get a signed letter of intent and let the chips fall where they may regarding his future position, knowing he’s an all-conference level talent on both sides of the ball. The first clip in his junior season highlight reel is absolutely remarkable and the rest of the highlights further confirm the brute strength, physicality, and violence with which Pittman plays football:
Another blue-chip, two-way athlete with whom UCLA is doing well right now is Darian Owens (Fresno, CA/Clovis West). Owens, in contrast to Pittman, is Mr. Smooth. On offense, Owens is a solid route-runner who can set up defensive backs and has the explosiveness to out-maneuver them once the ball hits his hands. On defense, Owens is a rangy ballhawk who could be a truly incredible center-fielder type of safety in the Pac-12.
UCLA is recruiting Owens as a wide receiver, which is his preferred position (in case his highlight reel that was 95% composed of offensive highlights did not make his positional intentions clear), and looks to have an outstanding shot to land him. His out-of-date Crystal Ball predictions tell a tale of another time in Owens’s recruitment, though, when the lifelong USC fan was considered a lock to become a Trojan before Sarkisian and his staff made it clear that Owens was relatively low on their list of priorities.
Since then, UCLA has made major headway in Owens’s recruitment and has been happy to pick up the pieces that USC left behind. Owens’s recruitment is a microcosm of the aforementioned Big Picture, in which UCLA stands to improve in a big way at receiver on the back of the 2016 class simply because there’s so much talent that the Bruins can’t help but bring in their fair share regardless of what anyone else does.
Finally, the last (but not least) wide receiver target we will discuss is Dymond Lee (West Hills, CA/Chaminade), who has been on the radar of Southern California recruitniks since 2013, when as a sophomore, Lee joined with Brad Kaaya to lead Chaminade to an improbable CIF-Southern Section title, with a memorable victory over a star-studded, Adoree’ Jackson-led Gardena Serra team in the championship game. Since then, Lee’s acrobatics and dynamism have been somewhat taken for granted as it became clear how truly special this group of local receiver recruits is and Lee became somewhat lost in the shuffle of the newer and shinier names emerging around him.
Make no mistake though, Lee’s upside is still tremendous. UCLA and Colorado, where Lee’s brother Donovan currently plays, are rumored to be the favorites for Lee and it’s easy to see why they’d want him: he’s absolutely electric in the open field, has tremendous hands, and has remarkable body control and concentration when elevating for jump balls.
A receiver class of Pittman, Owens, and Lee on top of a potential slot receiver class of Demetric Felton and Damian Alloway would be the best haul of playmakers that UCLA has brought to Westwood in a very long time and would make UCLA wide receivers coach Eric Yarber absolutely giddy about the future prospects of the Bruins’ receiver corps. If the Bruins could add anything to that, it would simply be icing on the cake.
Previous Introduction to the 2016 Football Recruits articles: